I had the same thing explained to me as well. The limit order is just a note to the broker telling them to place a market order once the target price has been reached. The target price is only reached once there is a trade that meets the limit criterion. So it's entirely possible to have something trade over your limit as the first trade that would trigger your order. Working with limit and stop orders when there is very little liquidity can result in curious results. You could get an execution price a fair amount off from your entered price.

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